Gross motor development
Young infants participate in guided play focused on pre-crawling skills.
Be Prepared: This activity is for two nonmobile infants. Tailor the activity to provide practice time for whatever motor skill each infant is learning. Some infants may be reaching for a toy, pushing up their head and chest, or rolling over. Some infants may be scooting forward, whereas others may be pulling their legs under their body to a balanced handsand- knees position.
Place two nonmobile infants on a firm mat, or padded floor, when they are alert for play. Put the infants on their backs near one another. Devote some time to helping the infants get comfortable in the setting. Use your voice and big smiles to create interest in looking at you. The infants may respond to you with sounds, looking, or movement. Describe what the infants are doing.
Then shake two soft rattles, one at a time. Place one rattle near each infant. Put the rattle within an infant’s range of sight to encourage head turning, reaching, or rolling over. Encourage the infants to hold or touch a rattle. Talk with each infant. Communicate enthusiasm for each infant’s efforts or accomplishments. Remember the importance of your tone of voice, facial expressions, and gestures. After 1–2 minutes, reposition an infant if he/she has not turned over or moved. If an infant is uncomfortable, help by moving closer and/or picking up the infant.
The infants may begin to vocalize as they move their legs and arms. The infants may be happy to see one another. Positively acknowledge the infants’ vocalizations, smiles, and nonverbal reactions. Example: “Devon, you turned your head when Isabel cooed. You heard Isabel make a sound.”
Infants spend time focused on an emerging physical skill until it is achieved. This play session provides a rattle, and your support, as tools for helping an infant learn skills that lead to crawling. Young infants are learning to control body movements in the months before they begin to crawl. Playing on the floor helps the infant develop strength that sets the stage for rolling over. Nonmobile infants will be interested in interacting with you and looking at your face as you smile and talk. Watch the ways the infants react to your encouragement. As you talk to the infants, pause for their reactions.
Extra support
Enrichment
Gross motor development
An infant practices crawling in a special crawling zone that includes an opportunity to crawl under a small bridge.
Be Prepared: This activity is for an infant who can crawl. Set up a fun crawling zone by placing activity mats in an open area along with a small table that serves as a fully open bridge to crawl under. Select a table that an infant can safely be under, including the possibility of sitting upright while under the table. Do not cover any of the sides of the table.
[Greet and place the infant in an independent sitting position so he/she can move into a crawling position when ready. You also may place an infant on his/her tummy, but do not position legs and arms in a crawling position. It is important for the infant to figure out how to move into a crawling position.]
[Point to and enthusiastically describe the area where the infant can have fun crawling. Use gestures to supplement your words. Sit or kneel by the small table. Point to and describe the table as a bridge the infant might want to crawl under. Use the plush animal to demonstrate going under the bridge. Example: “Puppy is going under our bridge. Look, our puppy went in one side and came out on the other side.” Repeat the demonstration.
Encourage the infant to crawl around the space. Describe the infant’s actions. Draw attention to the bridge, if appropriate, but do not overemphasize its use. See Extra Support ideas for helping an infant manage the bridge. Move about the space if it seems the infant would like to crawl toward you.]
[Offer a brief summary of the infant’s actions during the activity. Example: “You had fun crawling in a special place. We made a bridge with a table. You went under the bridge. Doggy went under the bridge, too!”]
Be attentive to whether it appears the infant would like you to be a coach near his/her side versus a desired destination of crawling across a mat or under the bridge. You might serve in both roles with the same infant during the same session, moving from coach to desired destination as the infant becomes more comfortable with the space and activity.
Some infants will be curious about the bridge without crawling under the table. Other infants may eagerly crawl under the table, maybe again and again. See the Extra Support tips for ways to reassure and tangibly support infants who show both interest in and reluctance to crawl under the bridge.
Extra support
Enrichment
Gross motor development
Older infants practice crawling as part of pretending to be little kittens.
Be Prepared: This activity is for infants who are able to walk or can readily crawl. Having the infants chase small balls (while pretending to be kittens) is one of the suggested ways you can promote crawling in this activity. Use small balls that infants can easily hold with one hand.
Invite infants to join you in pretending to be kittens. Sing a familiar song with hand actions to welcome infants to the gathering. Song possibilities include “Mister Sun,” “Itsy-Bitsy Spider,” or “Little Fishy.” Remember, hearing your voice is more satisfying to infants than recorded music.
After a welcoming song with hand actions, move closer to the infants and open the Puppies and Kittens book. Point to and name one or more of the six pictures of kittens. Use your own words to describe pictures you highlight. Ask the infants what sound a kitten makes. Some infants may make a kitten or catlike sound. Mimic any kitten or catlike sounds made by infants, or offer your own if no sounds are made by an infant.
Explain to the infants that we can have fun by pretending to be kittens. We can pretend we are kittens by crawling on the floor. Engage infants in one or more of the following options:
Kittens like to chase little balls. Gently roll small balls for the infants (as they pretend to be kittens) to follow in a crawling position.You may wish to repeat the activity or offer a second crawling option if infants remain interested in crawling. Conclude the session by encouraging infants to make a kitten noise, such as a meow. Some infants may enjoy looking at the book again as they calm down with your support.
Infants who can walk are likely to enjoy returning to a crawling position as part of pretend fun. Even after learning to walk, some infants prefer to crawl in some situations, especially if crawling is a more reliable or secure form of locomotion than walking. Focusing on where to go as a pretend kitten requires mental energies that might be easier to expend when not concentrating on a relatively new skill of walking.
Use of the book at the beginning of the activity is intended to introduce the kitten theme. Monitor infants’ attention to the book so you can decide whether to offer the book again after crawling time, or during a later point in the day or week with individual infants. The crawling activity will be stimulating for infants and many will welcome a calming down opportunity after working hard to crawl. The book can be a useful tool in helping infants to rest. Some may wish to sit close to you or on your lap.
Infants cannot be expected to know what it means to pretend to be someone or something else. Still, your use of the word in this activity and in other contexts can promote vocabulary awareness over time.
Extra support
Enrichment
Materials Needed: texture bears, long paper, texture activity quilts, soft toys
Arrange a play space for nonmobile infants near a window where they can watch shadows and changes in the light. Provide items with various textures for infants to feel with their hands, such as the texture bears.
Crinkle a long paper and then straighten it out on the floor for a novel crawling surface. The sound of crawling over the paper will interest early mobile infants.
Crinkling the paper will prevent walking infants from slipping. Use textured activity quilts and soft toys to create interesting zones for mobile infants to explore independently.
Toddlers, preschool-age, and older children may enjoy rolling on a mat or carpet. Guide the children so one child at a time can roll across the mat. Encourage children to roll as straight as they can. Some children will enjoy rolling over to a plush toy and giving it a squeeze. Example: “Roll over and get a hug from doggy.” You may wish to sing the song “Five in the Bed” and emphasize the refrain of “roll over, roll over.”
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